Shanghai July 1st/2nd.

( View from our hotel room)
http://picasaweb.google.com/dianatan78/My2006JulyShanghaiPictures
Shanghai is about 151 kilometers from Hangzhou. Nick had to go there to close some business deals( don't ask what kind). So we took a 2 hour ride to visit Shanghai. We spent an afternoon with his former high school classmate Angela ( she is chinese). She leaves about 20 minutes from downtown area, but with bad traffic, it took us 2 hours to get from suburbian Shanghai to get into Downtown area. So while nick was closing his business deals, we had lunch at Mc Donalds. Eating out in fast food places here is one very stressful activity. LINES are huge , and wait time often is more than 30 minutes. And Mc Donald fits itself about 300 people. IT IS GIgantic place. lol But then again, China is full of fast food hungry people who still manage to stay tiny after eating few big macs.

Around 4 pm Nick was finished with his stuff and we went to our hotel . OMG. Ride there was amazing. I never, ever ever seen so many buildings- BIG buildings in my life. Our ride to downtown area was just amazing. It is hard to explain , but OMG. I was speachless I think first time in my life. lol

We had dinner in some Chinese restaurant - Boiled blood, boiled fish, broiled other stuff, and other stuff... Nothing unusual. And again, I was forced to eat donkeys ass( that is what menu sayd).

After dinner kids wanted to go with Nicks friends for a sleepover party. lol She happily agreed to that. :)
One of our friends from Ca moved back to Shanghai while we here. SO her husband and her ( susan) took us to city tour at night. OMG again. City lights , life, music- If I ever have to move to asia it has to be Shanghai. I love this city. Around 11 pm we went some outdoor mall( kind of like Fashion Island) . OF COURSE everyboyd in china watches soccer, if you don't you are NOT cool. So at first we sat indoor in some Jazz place and after we moved out to watch the game. IF you wanted to watch the game then MINIMUM amount you had to spent outside sitting area was 100 dollars( pricy ), but again, that mall was built for forrigners, and belive me- that place was 80% white. AND they knew how to do coctails and all the items in menu were spelled right ( I have seen CACTAILS, CUCTAILS, KOKtails etc) lol And I thought I am the only one who does not know how to spell.. lol
So we 4 watched the game, and had few Coctails and snacks and around 1.30 we headed home since game was boring( England and some other guys- of course we left when game was almost over.....).

Oh, I wanted to mention about weather- it was about 30 degrees outside around 12 at night. Yeah, it is hot and humid. Today( july 3'd it is 39 degrees and very sunny).

On July 2nd, we headed out back to Hangzhou since nick had to go back to work( on sunday) He works sometimes until midnight and that is normal here. But he drives me crazy. We eat dinner- he is on phone, we eat lunch- he is on phone- he is about to fall asleep- phone rings- I hate it......

In few days we will fly to his hometown Sichuan..